Surat : Customer Faces 4-Day Nightmare with Porter Logistics

Surat, Gujarat – Next time you think of taking the services of Porter, a popular goods transport and logistic platform, for shifting your household or office furniture from one place to another, then think twice. In a what was supposed to be a simple office relocation within Surat city turned into a four-day ordeal for a customer who booked services through Porter. The incident has raised serious concerns about the company’s lack of local shifting partners and poor customer service.

Jignesh (Name changed), a marketing consultant in Surat,  had booked Porter to shift a sofa, office table, computer table, and a chair from one location in Surat to another. “I thought Porter would make shifting easy. But it became a nightmare. I kept calling for four days — no one helped. They kept on saying that the shifting partner will call for the pick up” Shah said, visibly frustrated.

According to Shah, Porter’s assigned shifting partner visited the office once but began demanding more money than the initially agreed fare. “I was quoted a price on the app, but the partner asked for nearly double when he arrived. When I refused, he left, and no one else came,” he added.

What followed was a series of phone calls to the Porter customer care center — all of which ended in hollow assurances. Shah claims he made more than a dozen calls over four days, but the promised pickups were either cancelled or never arrived. “Every time they said ‘we’re arranging another partner,’ but nothing happened,” he said.

The bigger issue, according to local sources, seems to be that Porter has very limited shifting partners in Surat, and cannot handle intra-city shifting during high-demand days. Customers are often left waiting for service or at the mercy of drivers demanding extra payment.

“This isn’t just about one customer,” said a member of Surat’s Small Business Owners Association. “Porter’s reputation in Surat is taking a hit. Their logistics model might work in metros, but clearly not here.”

Despite repeated attempts, there has been no official response from Porter regarding the incident. However, Shah, who was frustrated for the last four days, decided to cancel the order. He was lucky enough to get his Rs 500 booking amount refunded by Porter.